Victoria police say they attempted to engage with armed man before ‘siege of several hours’. Follow the latest updates live
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Smoke coming from Sydney tram causes to be suspended on Randwick line
Light rail services on the Randwick line have stopped due to smoke coming from the roof of a tram.
The man managed to get back into his car and drive a short distance before being overcome by his injuries.
Continue reading...The Republican fantasy of lower taxes and hard-to-access social safety net programs will now be a reality
For decades, Republicans have argued that the US would be better off if taxes were low, and programs to help low-income Americans were harder to access. With Donald Trump’s marquee tax and spending bill now set to become law, the country will find out what it’s like to live under that sort of system.
The massive legislation that Trump plans to sign Friday will make his campaign promises a reality by extending tax cuts enacted during his first term, and creating new deductions aimed at the working-class voters who backed his re-election.
Continue reading...Number looking to move to urban centres up 16% in first five months of 2025 compared with same period in 2015
With the rise of home working and surging house prices in many urban areas, one might have assumed that British cities had lost some of their appeal to homebuyers over the past decade, but it turns out the opposite is the case.
An analysis of the first five months of this year shows the number of would-be first-time buyers in Great Britain looking to move to cities is up by 16% on average compared with the same period in 2015.
Continue reading...Body will be able to advise ministers on issues directly affecting Aboriginal people in the state
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Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly will manage the rollout of community infrastructure grants and have a direct line to ministers and the power to make appointments to government boards under legislation to be introduced to parliament this year.
As first reported by Guardian Australia this week, the Victorian government and the First Peoples’ Assembly have confirmed that the statewide treaty bill will establish the assembly as a representative body to provide advice to government.
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Continue reading...Coventry South MP, who lost whip last year, surprises some in Corbyn’s Independent Alliance with news of formal plans
MP Zarah Sultana, suspended from Labour, has announced she is resigning from the party to join Jeremy Corbyn’s Independent Alliance.
Sultana declared she will “co-lead the founding of a new party” – even though, while there was an agreement in principle to form one, the timing and leadership had not been settled, the Guardian understands.
Continue reading...Costa Rica-based inter-American court of human rights says states have obligation to respond to climate change
There is a human right to a stable climate and states have a duty to protect it, a top court has ruled.
Announcing the publication of a crucial advisory opinion on climate change on Thursday, Nancy Hernández López, president of the inter-American court of human rights (IACHR), said climate change carries “extraordinary risks” that are felt particularly keenly by people who are already vulnerable.
Continue reading...Court halts ruling that allowed migrants to challenge removal to countries where they could be in danger
The supreme court has allowed the Trump administration to deport the eight men who have been held for weeks at an American military base in Djibouti to war-torn South Sudan, a country where almost none of them have ties.
Most of the men are from countries including Vietnam, South Korea, Mexico, Laos, Cuba and Myanmar. Just one is from South Sudan.
Continue reading...With narrow majorities and intra-party splits, Republicans faced a battle to give Trump his bill to sign – but they did it
Just a few months ago, analysts predicted that Republicans in Congress – with their narrow majorities and fractured internal dynamics – would not be able to pass Donald Trump’s landmark legislation.
On Thursday, the president’s commanding influence over his party was apparent once again: the bill passed just in time for Trump’s Fourth of July deadline.
Continue reading...Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is ‘destroying heritage and history and culture’, says curator Ayşe Göknur Shanal. Her show is ‘trying to protect and preserve’
As long as you can hear a beat or someone singing, you can dabke.
“The official definition, if there is one for dabke, is when a group of people dance together, usually in a synchronised way,” Derek Halawa says.
Continue reading...The health service transformation proposed for England faces daunting challenges that overwhelmed earlier attempts at reform
The government’s 10-year health plan to revive, modernise and future-proof the NHS in England has arrived as the service is facing a dual crisis. It has been unable for a decade now to provide the rapid access – to GPs, A&E care, surgery, ambulances and mental health support – which people need and used to get.
Normalisation of anxiety-inducing, frightening and sometimes fatal delay has produced a less tangible, but also dangerous, crisis: of public satisfaction, born of a profound loss of trust that the NHS will be there for them or their loved ones when they need it.
Continue reading...The actor, best known for his collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, was found unresponsive in Los Angeles
The actor Michael Madsen has died aged 67 at his home in Malibu, according to authorities and his representatives. No foul play is suspected, the sheriff’s department confirmed, after deputies responded to the Los Angeles county home following a call to the emergency services on Thursday morning.
He was pronounced dead at 8.25am. In an email, Madsen’s manager, Ron Smith, confirmed his client had died from cardiac arrest.
Continue reading...Dan Rather laments ‘sad day for journalism’ after company settles for $16m over 60 Minutes Kamala Harris interview
A former CBS News anchor and 60 minutes correspondent, Dan Rather, has blasted the $16m settlement between Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, and Donald Trump, calling it a “sad day for journalism”.
“It’s a sad day for 60 Minutes and CBS News,” Rather, a veteran journalist who was a CBS News anchor for over 20 years, told Variety in an interview published on Wednesday. “I hope people will read the details of this and understand what it was. It was distortion by the president and a kneeling down and saying, ‘yes, sir,’ by billionaire corporate owners.”
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